When reviewing magic the gathering creature card types, it helpful to look at the all 9 attributes. It’s a playable card in-game which also tells a story. Magic has several type of cards (Instants, Sorceries, Artifacts, Creatures, Land, Enchantment and Planeswalkers) Below is an example of a creature card.

1) Name: The card’s name, what it is called. Usually a card’s name is not relevant beyond being the main identifier for a card, but occasionally a card ability will require you to name a card.

2) Mana Cost: This tells you how much mana you need to cast a card, and what color it must be. Here the number three refers to three generic mana of any color, and the two skull symbols next to it refer to two black mana.So this card has a total ‘converted mana cost’ of five, and to cast it, at least two of that mana needs to be black.

3) Card type: This tells you what type of MTG card you’re dealing with. The main categories are Land, Creature, Sorcery, Instant, Enchantment, Artifact, and Planeswalker (and Battle, but that’s brand new).What category a card falls into has all sorts of ramifications for how the card works and when you can play it. For instance, most cards need to be played in your main phase, but instants can be used at any time. Sorceries and instants go to the graveyard after a one-time effect, but other card types stick around on the battlefield. Lands don’t have a casting cost, but you can usually only play one per turn.

4)Card subtype: Some cards, usually Creatures, have a subtype as well as type. Here, the card has two subtypes: dragon and skeleton. If a card tells you it has a particular effect on all dragons, or all auras, or triggers when a dragon, skeleton, or goblin is played, now you know where to look.

5)Set symbol: This part of the card tells you its MTG card rarity (shown by the color) and what MTG set it is from (shown by the symbol)

6)Rules text, which tells you how a card works. But on creatures, you’ll first find any ability keywords that work as a shorthand for how the card functions. For instance, flying creatures like this one can only be blocked by other flying creatures, or cards with reach. Interestingly, other card types like Sorceries and Instants will usually have any keywords at the end of the rules text.

7) Rules text: This tells you all about what the card does. For spells like Sorceries and Instants, you should treat it like a set of instructions to be followed as soon as the card is cast.For Creatures like this one, the rules text tells you about any abilities the cards have. These might trigger on their own when a specific condition is met. Others, like this one, have an activation cost – which could be paying mana, or tapping the card.

8)Flavor text: This is just for fun – it has no rules implications but it’s great for lovers of story. Flavor text ranges in quality and tone from evocative lore to corny puns.

9) Stat line: Only Creatures have this section. It tells you about the Power and Toughness of a Creature. Power dictates how much damage the Creature can dish out, while Toughness is how much damage it can take before it’s destroyed. Note that damage goes away once your turn ends.

Planeswalker Cards

1) Name: The card’s name, what it is called. Usually a card’s name is not relevant beyond being the main identifier for a card, but occasionally a card ability will require you to name a card.

2) Mana Cost: This tells you how much mana you need to cast a card, and what color it must be. Here the number three refers to three generic mana of any color, and the two skull symbols next to it refer to two black mana.So this card has a total ‘converted mana cost’ of five, and to cast it, at least two of that mana needs to be black.

3) Card Art: This is typically a humanoid image of the planeswalker.

4) Card type: This tells you what type of MTG card you’re dealing with. The main categories are Land, Creature, Sorcery, Instant, Enchantment, Artifact, and Planeswalker (and Battle, but that’s brand new).What category a card falls into has all sorts of ramifications for how the card works and when you can play it. For instance, most cards need to be played in your main phase, but instants can be used at any time. Sorceries and instants go to the graveyard after a one-time effect, but other card types stick around on the battlefield. Lands don’t have a casting cost, but you can usually only play one per turn.

5)Set symbol: This part of the card tells you its MTG card rarity (shown by the color) and what MTG set it is from (shown by the symbol)

6)Loyalty Counter Cost: This layout has 3 options. You can add a token, remove 2 tokens and remove 6 tokens. This planeswalker enters with 3 tokens see #7 below.

7)Loyal Counters: This number represents the amount of loyalty this planeswalker has after it has entered the game. This number is also its toughness.

8)Set details: This box will tell us the set number and the artist whom created the art.

9)Artist Credit: The artist who created the image on the card will be placed here.

10)Wizards of the coast copyright: This typically indicate the year the card was printed.

11)Holofoil Graphic: Cards which have a higher rarity level will have a holofoil graphic.